Chapter 2 Upgrading an Application Server
Installation

The Upgrade tool,
which is bundled with Application Server 9.1, replicates the configuration of
a previously installed server in the target installation. The Upgrade tool
assists in upgrading the configuration, applications, and certificate data
from an earlier version of the Application Server to Application Server 9.1. To
view a list of the older Application Server versions from which you can upgrade,
refer Table 2–1

Upgrade Tool Interfaces

You can use the tool through the command-line interface (CLI) or the
GUI.

To
use the Upgrade tool in GUI mode, issue the asupgrade command
with no options.

To run the Upgrade tool in CLI mode, invoke the asupgrade command
with the -c/--console option.
You can run the upgrade CLI in the interactive or non-interactive mode. If
you supply all required arguments when invoking asupgrade on
the console, the upgrade is performed in non-interactive mode and no further
input is required. For a complete list of asupgrade options,
refer Table 2–2. If you invoke
the tool only with the -c/--console option, the tool enters the interactive
CLI mode, where the user is asked for a series of inputs.

Note –

Ensure that the -c/--console option is the first option in the command
line, if you want to run asupgrade in CLI mode.

Upgrade Terminology

The following are important terms related to the upgrade process:

Source
Server: the installation from which you are upgrading to the new version.

Target
Server: the installation to which you are upgrading.

Domains
Root : the directory where the domains are created. This directory, by default,
is the location specified as AS_DEF_DOMAINS_PATH in the asenv.conf file (on Solaris) or the asenv.bat file
(on Windows).

Domain
Directory or domain-dir: the directory (within the Domains Root) corresponding
to a specific domain. All the configuration and other data pertaining to the
domain exists in this directory.

Install
Root: the directory where the Application Server is installed.

Administration
User Name: Name of the user who administers the server. This term refers to
the admin user of the Application Server installation from which you want
to upgrade.

Password:
Administration user’s password to access the Domain Administration Server
(DAS)(8-character minimum) of the Application Server installation from which
you want to upgrade.

Master
Password: SSL certificate database password used in operations such as Domain
Administration Server startup. This term refers to the master password of
the Application Server installation from which you want to upgrade.

Upgrade Tool Functionality

The Upgrade Tool migrates the configuration, deployed applications,
and certificate databases from an earlier version of the Application Server
to the current version. The Upgrade Tool does not upgrade the binaries of
the Application Server. The installer is responsible for upgrading the binaries.
Database migrations or conversions are also beyond the scope of this upgrade
process.

Only those instances that do not use Sun Java System Web Server-specific
features are upgraded seamlessly. Configuration files related to HTTP path,
CGI bin, SHTML, and NSAPI plug-ins are not be upgraded.

Note –

Before starting the upgrade process, make sure that you stop all
server instances, node agents, and domains (in that order) in the source server
(the server from which you are upgrading) and the target server (the server
to which you are upgrading).

Migration of Deployed Applications

Application archives (EAR files) and component archives (JAR, WAR, and
RAR files) that are deployed in the Application Server 8.x environment do not require
any modification to run on Application Server 9.1.

Applications and components that are deployed in the source server are
deployed on the target server during the upgrade. Applications that do not deploy successfully on
the target server must be migrated using the Migration Tool or asmigrate command,
and deployed again manually.

If a domain contains information about a deployed application and the
installed application components do not agree with the configuration information,
the configuration is migrated as is without any attempt to reconfigure the
incorrect configurations.

Upgrade of Clusters

In Application Server 8.x, the clusters are defined in the domain.xml file and there is no need to specify clusters separately. Another
notable difference is that in Application Server 8.x, all the instances within
a cluster reside within the same domain and therefore, in the same domain.xml file.

Upgrade Verification

An upgrade log records the upgrade activity. The upgrade log file
is named as the upgrade.log and is created in the domains
root where the upgrade is carried out.

After you have upgrade a domain, you can see a file whose name is in
the following format: upgradedTo<releasenumber>. For example, a domain that has been upgrade to 9.1 will have
a file called upgradeTo91 in its config folder.

Upgrade Rollback

If an upgrade in progress is cancelled, the configuration before
the upgrade was started is restored.

Note –

You can cancel the upgrade process only if you are running the
Upgrade Tool in GUI mode.

Upgrade Scenarios

The following are the three scenarios in which an upgrade is performed:

Side-by-side
Upgrade: The source server and the target server are installed on the same
machine , but under different install locations. You can choose to perform
this type of upgrade if you wish to have the configuration corresponding to
these installations on the same machine in different locations.

In-place
Upgrade: The target server is installed in the same installation location
as the source server. You can choose to perform this type of upgrade if you
wish to install the configuration (that is, the domains ) in the same location
as before. In this scenario, you install the binaries in the same location
as the existing binaries using the installer.

Inline Upgrade: You can use the start-domain command
to upgrade domains of Application Server 8.x or 9.0 to Application Server
9.1. This type of upgrade works only if you are performing an in-place upgrade
of binaries.

Upgrading from Java ES 5 or Java ES 5 Update 1

To Upgrade to Application Server 9.1 (Java ES Update
1)

If you have Application Server 8.x installed as part of Java ES 5 or
Java ES 5 Update 1, you can use the following upgrade procedure to upgrade
to Application Server 9.1, which is distributed with Java ES 5 Update 1 as
an optional download.

Java ES 5 users can use the following procedure to upgrade from Application
Server 8.x Enterprise Edition to Application Server 9.1

For Solaris or Linux, choose the same installation directory as
that of the Application Server 8.x installation. For Windows, choose a different
installation directory and not the Application Server 8.x installation directory.

The installer updates the required shared components. The installer
also created a new domain (domain1) in as-install/appserver/domains/domain1on Solaris, as-install/domains/domain1 on
Linux, and as-install\domains\domain1 on Windows.

Start the Upgrade tool. When prompted for source , provide the
8.x domain directory. When prompted for the target, provide the 9.1 domains
root directory.

This tool is located in the as-install/appserver/bin directory on Solaris, as-install/bin directory
on Linux, and as-install\bin directory on Windows.

After upgrade, node agents for all remote instances are created on the
target DAS. These node agents have to be copied to the respective host systems
and started.

To Upgrade using the Upgrade Tool Wizard

To start the wizard,

- On UNIX, change to the <install_dir>/bin directory
and type asupgrade.

- On Windows, double click the asupgrade icon in
the <install_dir>/bin directory.

If the Upgrade checkbox was selected during the Application Server installation
process, the Upgrade Wizard screen automatically displays after the installation
completes.

In the Source Installation Directory field, enter the location
of the existing installation from which to import the configuration. Enter
the domain directory.

For example, <install-root>/domains/domain1

In the Target Installation Directory field, enter the location
of the Application Server installation to which to transfer the configuration.
Provide the domains root directory of the target Application Server installation
as the input to this field.

Provide the admin user name, the admin password, and master password
of the source application server. The target domain is created with these
credentials.

The Upgrade Results panel is displayed showing the status of the
upgrade operation.

Click the Finish button to close the Upgrade Tool when the upgrade
process is complete.

To Upgrade a Cluster

When you are upgrading Application Server 8.x EE to Application Server
9.1, the upgrade tool automatically detects clusters, if any, on the source
installation.

To Upgrade a Node Agent

If you are performing an upgrade from Application Server 8.x EE to
Application Server 9.1, in which all the node agents run on a single machine,
the upgrade tool automatically detects node agents, if any, on the source
installation. The user need not take any special action. If you are performing
an upgrade from Application Server 8.x EE to Application Server 9.1, in which
remote node agents are running on other machines use the following steps to
perform the upgrade.

On Machine B, start each node agent using
the start-node-agent command with the --syncinstances option. This option resynchronizes
all associated instances

If you are performing an side—by—side upgrade:

Check the value of the agent.adminPort property
in thenodeagent.properties file before starting the node
agent for the first time. Perform this check on the nodeagent.properties files on both Machine A and Machine
B. The value of agent.adminPort property must
reflect the same value as the jmx-connector port defined
in the domain.xml file on Machine A.
Edit the agent.adminPort property in the nodeagent.properties files on Machine A and Machine B,
as required.

If you are using non-default ports, you must check the value of
the agent.bind.status property in nodeagent.properties file on Machine B, before starting the node
agent for the first time. If the agent.bind.status property
in nodeagent.properties file is BOUND,
change it to UNBOUND.

On Machine A, start each node agent using the start-node-agent command. Do not use the --syncinstances option.

On Machine B, start each node agent using the start-node-agent command. Do not use the --syncinstances option.

Node Agent Startup
Failure

The default admin port in Application Server 9.1 is 4848 and in Application
Server 8.x EE, the default admin port is 4849. When you upgrade from Application
Server 8.x EE, you could run into problem while trying to start the default
node agent that exists in the target, due to the port clash.

To resolve this problem, edit the das.properties file
before starting the target domain or node agent. Change the agent.das.port property to the admin port value in the upgraded domain.xml, which is 4849.

Upgrade tool leaves the node agent in a rendezvous false state. If the agent.bind.status property in nodeagent.properties file
is BOUND, change it to UNBOUND. The
node agent starts up successfully after making these changes.

_TimerPool Issue

The datasource class used for a jdbc-connection-pool resource
named __TimerPool has changed from
org.apache.derby.jdbc.EmbeddedXADataSource in Application
Server 8.x EE to org.apache.derby.jdbc.ClientDataSource in
Application Server 9.1. This change requires a addition of two property
elements, User and Password to the jdbc-connection-pool
element in the domain.xml file. Edit the Application
Server 9.1 domain.xml file and add the appropriate user
name and password. Example:

Problems Due to Missing Client JAR Files

You have deployed applications that use client JARs in Application Server
8.x. You upgrade your existing installation to Application Server 9.1. You
could run into problems while trying to run these applications (that were
deployed in Application Server 8.x) in Application Server 9.1.

To solve this problem, perform the following steps:

After upgrade, start Application Server 9.1.

Use the asadmin get-client-stubs command
to transfer the missing client stubs to a local directory. See get-client-stubs(1).

Run the appclient pointing to the client JAR files in the
local directory.

Problems with Migrated Applications that
Use JavaDB

You have deployed applications that use JavaDB databases in Application
Server 8.x. You upgrade your existing installation to Application Server
9.1. You run the asadmin start-database command and successfully
start JavaDB. In this scenario, you could run into problems while trying to
run these applications (that were deployed in Application Server 8.x) in Application
Server 9.1 because the instance directory of JavaDB in Application Server 9.1 has
changed.

classpath-suffix and classpath-prefix Not Transferred

Upgrade tool does not transfer java-config attributes, classpath-suffix, classpath-prefix, java-home, server-classpath,
because the information provided can be implementation specific.

JVM Options Not Transferred

When you upgrade
from a previous version of the application server, transfer of the previous
configuration is required. Since the target configuration files may have
new parameters and new preconfigured features, copying the old configuration
files to the new server installation is not possible. The values of the old
configurations must be transferred to the Application Server 9.1 configuration
format.

The following JVM options are not transferred from the source to the
target installation:

Dorg.xml.sax.driver

Dcom.sun.jdo.api.persistence.model.multipleClassLoaders

Djava.util.logging.manager

Dcom.sun.aas.imqLib

Dcom.sun.aas.imqBin

Dcom.sun.aas.webServicesLib

Dcom.sun.aas.configRoot 8. Xmx<...>m

The options that are not transferred are listed down in the upgrade
log. The user can manually change such attributes in the configuration file.

Port Conflict Problems

After upgrading the source server to Application Server 9.1, start the
domain and then the node agent, which, by default, starts the server instances.
If you have upgraded from Application Server 8.x EE, you might face problems
while attempting to start the node agent. The domain, clusters, and instances
have admin port set to 4849 and the node agent points to 4848. You need to
manually modify the admin port to which the node agent points. To change the
node agent port, edit the agent.das.port property in the install_dir/nodeagents/node-agent-name/server_name/config/das.properties file.

Start the Admin Console and verify that these servers are started. If
any of the servers are not running, in the install_dir/nodeagents/node-agent-name/server_name/logs/server.log file, check for failures that are caused by port conflicts. If
there any failures due to port conflicts, use the Admin Console and modify
the port numbers so there are no more conflicts. Stop and restart the node
agent and servers.

Note –

The default ports in Application Server 9.1 are:

4848 for admin port

8080 for HTTP Instance (DAS instance)

7676 for JMS

3700 for IIOP

8181 for HTTP_SSL.

3820 for IIOP_SSL

3920 for IIOP_MUTUALAUTH

8686 for JMX_ADMIN

Problems Encountered When A Single Domain has Multiple
Certificate Database Passwords

If the upgrade includes certificates, provide the passwords for the
source PKCS12 file and the target JKS keyfile for each domain that contains
certificates to be migrated. Since Application Server 8uses a different certificate
store format (NSS) than that of Application Server 8 PE (JSSE), the migration
keys and certificates are converted to the new format. Only one certificate
database password per domain is supported. If multiple certificate database
passwords are used in a single domain, make all of the passwords the same
before starting the upgrade. Reset the passwords after the upgrade has been
completed.

Load balancer Plug-in Problems During Side-by-Side
Upgrade

While upgrading from Application Server 8.x EE to Application Server 9.1,
during a side-by-side upgrade, you will not be able to point your new 9.1
load balancer plug-in to the old 8.x web server installation, if the load
balancer plug-in is colocated with other Application server components on
a single system. You need to install web server again and point the 9.1 load
balancer plug-in installation to the instance belonging to the new installation.

Migration of Additional HTTP Listeners Defined on
the Source Server to the Target Server

If additional HTTP listeners have been defined in the source server,
those listeners need to be added to the target server after the upgrade:

Start the Admin Console.

Expand Configuration.

Expand HTTP Service.

Expand Virtual Servers.

Select <server>.

In the right hand pane, add the additional HTTP listener name
to the HTTP Listeners field.

Click Save when done.

Migration of Additional HTTP
and IIOP Listeners Defined on the Source Server to the Target Server

If additional HTTP listeners or IIOP listeners have been defined in
the source server, the IIOP ports must be manually updated for the target
EE servers before any clustered instances are started. For example, MyHttpListener was defined as an additional HTTP listener in server1,
which is part of the cluster. The other instances in the cluster also have
the same HTTP listener, because server instances are symmetrical in a cluster.
In the target configuration named <cluster_name>-config, this listener must be added with its port set to a system
property, {myHttpListener_HTTP_LISTENER_PORT}. In the
target server, each server instance in this cluster that uses this configuration
would have system property named myHttpListener_HTTP_LISTENER_PORT.
The value of this property for all server instances is set to the port value
in the source server, server1. These system properties
for these server instances must be manually updated with nonconflicting port
numbers before the server is started.

If additional HTTP listeners have been defined in the source server,
those listeners need to be added to the target server after the upgrade:

In the right hand pane, add the additional HTTP listener name(s)
to the HTTP Listeners field.

Click Save when done.

Binary and Remote Upgrades

The tool does not update the runtime binaries of the server. The Upgrade
tool upgrades the configuration information and deployed applications of a
previously installed server. You need to use the Application Server Installer
to install the server binary packages. The first step in the upgrade process
is to use the Installer to install the target server binaries.

You cannot perform an upgrade if the source and target server file systems,
specifically the domain root file system, are not accessible from the same
machine. Currently, most of the upgrade is file based. To perform the upgrade,
the user who runs the upgrade needs to have Read permissions for the source
and target directories and Write permission for the target directory.